An ownership verification method and apparatus are disclosed, for identifying the current owner of a publication, such as a textbook, prior to resale of the publication.
Textbooks, and other printed publications, are often used for instruction, education, etc. Upon completion of the course of instruction, these publications are often resold to other students, who will be taking a similar course the following semester. The sale, and resale of printed publications, takes place in bookstores, and schools nationwide.
Currently, there is no readily visible way to verify the current ownership of a publication, prior to resale. The student rarely keeps the sales slip from semester to semester, and many bookstore sales slips do not sufficiently disclose the title or author of a publication, so that ownership verification can be properly established, at the time of resale of the publication to the bookstore.
Consequently, many used textbooks are stolen, and sold to a bookstore, prior to resale to another student. Due to the expense of textbooks and other publications, many students count on the resale of their used textbooks and other printed publications, to supplement a portion of the purchase price of the new textbooks and printed publications required in subsequent semesters. The current ease of resale of used textbooks, encourages their theft.